Tobit 6

Wycliffe Bible

6 And Tobias went forth, and a dog (pur)sued him, and he dwelled, or abode, in the first dwelling of his journey beside the flood of Tigris (or by the Tigris River). [Tobias forsooth went forth, and an hound followed him, and he abode the first abiding beside the flood of Tigris.]

² And he went forth to wash his feet; and lo! a great fish went out to devour him.

³ Which fish Tobias dreaded, and cried with (a) great (or with a loud) voice, and said, Sire, this fish/he assaileth me.

⁴ And the angel said to him, Take the fish by the gill, or by the jaw, and draw him to thee. And when he had done this thing, he drew the fish into a dry place, and it began to sprawl before his feet. [And the angel said to him, Catch his fin, and draw it to thee. The which thing when he had done, he drew it into the dry, and it began to quop (or to flap) before his feet.]

⁵ Then the angel said to him, Draw out the entrails of this fish, and keep to thee (or keep for thyself) his heart and gall and maw; for these things be needful to (or for) medicines profitably. [Then the angel said to him, Open this fish, and his heart and gall and maw lay up to thee; these things forsooth be profitably necessary to medicines.]

⁶ And when he had done this thing, he roasted the flesh thereof, and they took (it) with them in (or on) the way; and they salted (the) other things, that should suffice to them in the way, till they came into Rages, the city of Media.

⁷ Then Tobias asked the angel, and said to him, Azarias, brother, I beseech thee, that thou say to me, what remedy these things shall have, which thou hast commanded to be kept of the fish.

⁸ And the angel answered, and said to him, If thou puttest a little part of his heart upon hot coals, the smoke thereof driveth away all kind of fiends, either from man either from woman, so that it nigh (or approach) no more to them. [And the angel answering said to him, A parcel of his heart if thou put upon the coals, his smoke putteth out all the kind of devils, either from man or from woman, so that he come no more nigh to them.]

⁹ And the gall is much worthy to anoint eyes, in which is a web, and they shall be healed. [And the gall is worth to eyes to be anointed, in the which were rime, and they shall be whole.]

¹⁰ And Tobias said to him, Where wilt thou, that we dwell, or abide?

¹¹ And the angel answered, and said, (Living) Here is a man, Raguel by name, a nigh man of thy lineage, and he hath a daughter, Sarah by name; but neither he hath (a) male child neither any other female or maid child, except her.

¹² All his chattel [or all his substance] is due to thee; and it behooveth thee (to) have her to (or for) thy wife.

¹³ Therefore ask thou her of her father (And so ask thou her father for her); and he shall give her (for) a wife to thee. [Ask than (for) her of her father; and he shall give to thee her (for your) wife.]

¹⁴ Then Tobias answered, and said, I have heard, that she was given to seven husbands, and all they be dead; but I have heard this also, that a fiend killed them [or a devil slew them].

¹⁵ And therefore I dreaded, lest peradventure also these things befall to me; and since I am one alone to my father and mother, I (would) put down with sorrow their eld (age) to hells (or to the grave)/and since I am an only son to my father and mother, I dread to put down to hell their eld (age) with dreariness (or I fear to drive them to the grave through great sorrow). [I dread then, lest peradventure and these things fall to me; and since I am alone to my father and mother, I put down the eld (age) of them with sorrow to hell.]

¹⁶ Then the angel Raphael said to him, Hear thou me, and I shall show to thee, who they be, over whom the fiend hath mastery; [Then (the) angel Raphael said to him, Hear me, and I shall show to thee, who be, to whom may the devil have mastery;]

¹⁷ certainly the fiend hath power over them, that take so their weddings [or (their) wedlock], that they close out God from them, and from their mind; the fiend [or the devil] hath power over them, that give so (much) attention to their lechery [or to their lusts], as an horse and a mule do, that have none understanding.

¹⁸ But when thou hast taken her to (or as thy) wife, enter into thy bed-place, and by three days be thou continent from her or be thou chaste abstaining thee from her in all fleshly lust, and to none other thing thou shalt give attention (to) with her, but only to prayers.

¹⁹ Forsooth in that first night, when the maw of the fish is burnt, the fiend [or the devil] shall be driven away.

²⁰ And in the second night, thou shalt be received [or admitted] in(to) the coupling, or (the) marriage (covenant), of (the) holy patriarchs.

²¹ And in the third night, thou shalt get blessing, that whole (or healthy) sons be (en)gendered of (or by) you. [The third forsooth night blessing thou shalt get, that sons be begotten of you sound.]

²² But when the third night is passed, (then) thou shalt take the virgin [or the maiden] with the dread of the Lord, and thou shalt be led more by the love of begetting of children than by lust, (so) that in the seed of Abraham thou get blessing in sons.